Rudolf Schenda und Wolfgang Martens zum Gedenken

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The need for re-organising the UN-system

The leadership, as well as the organisational structure and the working routine of the UN in as far as they are mainly concerned with development political questions and international economic cooperation are increasingly coming under cross-fire from critics in all parts of the world. A case in point was the recent interpellation by the group of CDU/CSU members in the German Federal Parliament. The subject of this parliamentary inquiry was the re-organisation of the economic and social sectors of the UN. In the following article the member of Parliament, Dr Volkmar Köhler, explains why the interpellation was tabled. His explanation is followed by the publication of item number 10 of the inquiry and the reply by the Minister of State in the Foreign Office, Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski.     

Partnership Between Local Government and the Local Community In The Area of Social Policy

The article describes the background and history of one project aimed at developing a strategic social plan in the city of Eger. This initiative was based upon partnership between the municipal government, the local community and civil organizations in Eger. It offers an important perspective upon the potential, in the transitional nations of eastern and central Europe, for public-private partnership as an effective mechanism both to map social needs and to develop policies to address these needs. It also offers one particular approach to the development of such partnerships - the decision conferencing model. Such an approach takes public-private partnerships into an arena beyond that of policy implementation alone.     

Steering customers to the online channel: The influence of personal relationships,learning investments,and attitude toward the firm

Understanding the consequences of customer steering is a key challenge of multichannel customer management. Although many firms are faced with the question whether customers should be steered to the online channel to realize the potential benefits of this channel, little is known about the circumstances under which customers will be unreceptive to the online channel and displeased if they are steered. This research addresses this critical gap and examines the impact of customer steering with assortment modifications on customers' online migration decisions and overall satisfaction in three experimental studies. The results highlight the importance of three contingency factors: personal relationships in the current channel, learning investments into the online channel and attitude toward the steering firm.     

Optimal Monopolist Export Pricing with Dynamic Demand and Learning Curve Effects

This paper addresses incomplete exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) and pricing-to-market (PTM) by proposing an optimal control model of dynamic monopolistic pricing on a foreign market, which accounts for dynamic demand effects (such as diffusion or saturation) and learning curve effects. It is shown how the optimal dynamic export pricing results in partial or full ERPT in the long-term equilibrium. Moreover, transitional price dynamics are illustrated, which may explain dumping, i.e., temporary prices below unit costs, and (asymmetric) short-run overshooting dynamics of the optimal export price level as a reaction to exchange rate changes.     

The Significance of the New Venture's First Sale: The Impact of Founders' Capabilities and Proactive Sales Orientation

Initial sale success in the market with a new product is a critical milestone for a new venture. Failure at the introduction stage of a new product could have lethal consequences for the venture. In the present study, the authors investigate the role of a new venture company's first successful sale in the venture's future commercial success. The authors develop and test a model of the impact of the founders' entrepreneurial and commercial capabilities and proactive sales orientation on the significance of the first sale and sales growth of a new venture. Using survey data and partial least squares estimation, the results reveal that the founders' commercial capabilities have a positive effect on proactive sales orientation, while their entrepreneurial capabilities positively moderate the effect of commercial capabilities. Further, the results reveal that a proactive sales orientation positively affects the significance of the first sale and that value‐based selling approach positively moderates the effect of proactive sales orientation. Finally, the results reveal that the significance of the first sale is positively related to sales growth. Thus, the authors conclude that combining the founders' commercial and entrepreneurial capabilities strengthens proactive sales orientation and that, in turn, a proactive sales orientation particularly increases the significance of the first sale when new venture companies practice value‐based selling. Research has convincingly demonstrated proactive selling behavior to be one of the most powerful predictors of sales performance. Value‐based selling is a sales approach to identify, quantify, communicate, and verify value of a new product to the customer. Our findings suggest that founders who possess both strong commercial and entrepreneurial capabilities engage considerably more in proactive sales practice as compared with founders that only possess strong commercial capabilities. Hence, rather than hiring specific sales expertise, founders should develop their proactive, value‐selling capabilities.     

The Role of Fashion Brand Authenticity in Product Management: A Holistic Marketing Approach

This study explores the multidimensional construct of brand authenticity and the effect of each component on brand attachment, brand commitment, and brand loyalty by focusing on fashion brands in sporting goods. For this study, two global sports brands, Nike and Adidas, were selected, and brand stimuli (cartoons with scenarios) were designed based on a qualitative analysis of brand cases. A total of 207 usable responses were obtained from Korean consumers who had purchased the selected brands. The findings show that fashion brand authenticity consisted of seven factors: authority, fashionability, consistency, innovativeness, sustainability, origin, and heritage. Of these factors, authority, fashionability, innovativeness, and sustainability were significant predictors of brand attachment, and authority, consistency, and innovativeness were significant predictors of brand loyalty. There were differences in the effects of brand authenticity on brand attachment and brand commitment between Nike and Adidas. From a managerial and holistic marketing perspective, implications are suggested regarding the importance of managing brand authenticity in product innovation and management approaches.